The National Student Financial Scheme (NSFAS) has distanced itself from the prosecution of Sibongile Mani, the so-called millionaire student who was sentenced to five years behind bars after being convicted of fraud.
Earlier this week, almost five years on from the incident, Mani was sentenced to five years behind bars after being convicted of fraud.
In a statement, NSFAS declared that they did not institute any criminal proceedings against Mani as there was no basis for them to do so. NSFAS spokesperon, Kagisho Mamabolo, added, "It was those who were worried about their R800k who subsequently took her to court. They have their own reasons for doing so".
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They added that the scheme did not suffer any financial loss due to the incident.
“NSFAS had, when the incident came to light, commissioned an internal audit review of its systems and controls, and confirmed that indeed no financial loss was suffered. The outcome of this review is on record,” said the scheme.
NSFAS said that Intellimali was the only entity that suffered financial loss related to the incident. This according to the scheme was due to the weakness in Intellimali's controls and systems that led to this erroneous payment of Mani.
Intellimali, a service provider to the Walter Sisulu University used for the distribution of NSFAS allowances, had paid an amount of R14 million into Mani’s account in 2017. She was only meant to receive R1400. Mani spent around R800 000.
NSFAS says the incident resulted in reputational damage to the scheme which they believe was caused by inaccurate reporting by the media and Parliament.
